Salesforce's Earnings Day Is Here. All Eyes Are on Einstein.

Salesforce stock is near record highs amid enthusiasm for the company’s opportunity to leverage artificial intelligence and its recently launched Einstein AI platform, plus management’s newfound attention to controlling expenses to boost margins.

That means whether Salesforce is seeing any effects from its push into AI will be a subject of investor interest when the provider of cloud-based enterprise application software reports its quarterly results. The numbers are due after the close of trading on Wednesday.

For its fiscal fourth quarter, ended in January, Salesforce has projected revenue of between $9.18 billion and $9.23 billion, with a non-GAAP profit of between $2.25 and $2.26 a share. The consensus call among analysts tracked by FactSet is for revenue of $9.22 billion and an adjusted profit of $2.27 a share.

Salesforce’s forecast for the January 2024 fiscal year is for revenue of between $34.75 billion and $34.8 billion, with adjusted profits of $8.18 to $8.19 a share, and cash-flow growth of between 30% and 33%.

For the April quarter, consensus estimates call for revenue of $9.15 billion and an adjusted profit of $2.20 a share. And for fiscal 2025, the Street consensus is that revenue will be $38.6 billion, with an adjusted profit of $9.50 a share.

Guggenheim Partners analyst John DiFucci said in a note previewing the quarter that he expects the fourth-quarter results and management’s forecasts for both the first quarter and all of fiscal 2025 to be in line with Street estimates. The results should be aided by the company’s first price increase in years, which it announced last summer, along with strong renewals of licenses, he said.

“We believe CRM can continue to increase profit metrics over time, but there’s probably still room to wring inefficiencies out of this model,” he said in a research note. DiFucci has a Neutral rating on Salesforce stock.

Stifel analyst J. Parker Lane, who rates Salesforce at Buy, recently raised his target for the stock price to $330 from $300. He said in a research note that checks with partners showed strength in demand, with some early adoption of the company’s Einstein AI platform.

“We were pleased to hear partners echo [CEO Marc] Benioff’s excitement” from the last earnings calls about “the improving selling environment,” Lane wrote.

TD Cowen analyst Derrick Wood, who has a Market Perform rating on Salesforce shares, recently lifted his target price to $305, from $265, citing “improving enterprise demand conditions and rising software multiples.”

Wood predicted that the the company will post a solid quarter, benefiting from strength in enterprise spending. And he said that the outlook for fiscal 2025 should be in line with Street estimates for 11% topline growth.

As of the close of trading on Tuesday, Salesforce shares were up 14% for the year, with a 52-week gain of 83%.